Learn to Say No to People

Well, this is the first post on this blog, I was thinking from where to start, I guess this is the ideal topic to begin this blogging journey. How many times has this happened with you that you planned to study for this weekend and suddenly your friend comes up with the idea of another trip, and you were not able to say no, and your studies got affected? You did not want to do the cooking for your friend but if he/she asks you cant refuse? How many times other people’s unimportant things have hampered your schedule of doing things? Well, yes it has happened with many of us, we let other people’s priorities to get into our time table.

Learning to say “NO” will help you with all this. You can directly say “NO, I am not able to help you with that.” If you want to explain (to your dear friends or relatives), you should simply say:”NO, I have already made another appointment for this time” or “NO, sorry. I am afraid I have to decline because I have no spare time.”

Other ways of saying NO:

I can´t do this right now.
NO, thanks. Not this time. Thank you for asking.
Sorry, but NO.
Please accept that I cannot come.
I´d rather not.

But sometimes it happens that when someone makes a request, you have to think it over. Sounds familiar? Well for these times what you can do is use an empathic NO, stating you would have done it under different circumstances but you cant do it now.

“Sorry, no. I would have kept your dog next weekend. But I am going to visit my parents. I know it will be hard to find someone to take care of the dog. I will try to help you next time.”

Well Always Remember: Saying NO is a significant response and You have every right to say “No”! Nobody feels bad if you say no to something, they will find someone else to do the job.